, 1887-07-22
No GREAT CRIMINALS.
SOME ROMANTIC IDEAS DlsPELLe0
BY AN EXPERIENCED CROOK"

Crowd After Number. Their
Profits and Their ski All EXaggcr-
ated-A Transparent Trick.
have been reading and l suppose every
b~iy has been reading, too, about great
criminals iu the newspapers. The boastful-
ness of the detective and the Imagination of
the reporter nave combined to make some
interesting reading, but II you recall what
you have read you will find that very few
great criminals have been told about, and,
apart from murders, very few great crimes
have been committed. One or two pro-
fessioual forgeTs, a half score Of burglars, a
cluster OF twenty five confidence men, and
the whole list is exhausted. The fact is there
is no such army Of criminals fertile OF ex-
pedient, ready of device, watchful of every
chance to break in and steal, as the police
would have you believe.
/ was looking over the criminal list the
other day of the convicted professionals con-
fined in New York state, They were numer-
Gus enough, but their crimes were contempti-
bly, small To make your Vidocq, you must
have first your great criminal and his great
crime. The American Vidocq makes himself,
with these two essentials left out; and having
opportunity to talk with one of the alleged
great criminals, he confirmed my belief i'll
the visionary character of these shrewd and
clever rascals with no greater effort than re-
vealing his own stupidity. l hunted up
another, a professional who has repeated his
offenses sufficiently to entitle him to any
other distinction than that of an honest
man. | would mention that he wears stripes
now, except that it might draw from the
value of his statements in the minds of some
who are too easily prejudiced. Anyway be is
a better authority than the police, whose
vanity in their own capacity may be n
proper pride, but leads to some mighty tall
lying.
1.-THE fact is that professional thieves and
rogues are not numerous in any locality, and
il crime were the sole source of support for
tho few hundreds who are so chased most of
them would be hungry many times every
year. Men who steal whenever they get a
chance always have some other occupation,
and it is n fact that the legitimate one is more
profitable than the Legitimate one in nine
cases out of ten" Thus began my inform
ant, Wesley Allen, tia pickpocket.
But in this city there is a vast army of
professional criminals, | said, "men who are
classified and whose industries have special
forms. implying cunning and originality"
my dear sir, you have been reading the
newspapers or talking to detectives. There
isn't n dozen. II really clever men-if men
with a modicum of brains that belong to
clever ~people-were TO devote their talents to
roguery society couldn't exist. The methods
employed by thieves, for example, to attain
their ends look very cunning and well
planned to one to whom they are first re
vealed. But take any one of them and ex-
anime it and you will see how flimsy it is. A
sneak thief wants to get into the till of Il
corner grocery. His accomplice comes with
a tape line and begins to measure the side
walk in front of the door, or to measure the
wall, or comes in n wagon and begins to
throw out IA lot of boxes. The grocer steps
out to inquire; is held in conversation, asked
TO hold the end Of the measure or pass back
the boxes; the sneak is in and away, and the
trick is Off. A saloon keeper is known to
keep II p~ocketbook stuffed with money in the
inner pocket of his vest. The pickpocket
knows it is n difficult place to touch. Two
accomplices come in when he Is alone, both
OF them laughing heartily-one with a tape
measure. We'll, that was a dead loss for me-
says one, Set 'em up They laugh, ask the
saloon keeper to drink and explain that they
were betting on the girth of a neighbor. The
saloon keeper becomes Interested the more
so as rounds are being called and then the
loser wants to get even. A bottle OF wine is
staked and the victim asked to measure, the
new bet being on his girth. Objection is
taken to the vest; Off it comes and the sneak
''hNA - ann POI ~ oNNl Has lbt ltllllltIs
Now. that's artful, certainly, said |.
mo such a thing; it is most transparent
and simple. 1t couldn't succeed If it were
not that the victim is a fool. But these are
exceptional cases of such good planning as
crooks can do. But, after all, suppose a man
of brains-real brains, such as you know
plenty of-were to devote himself to the
planning of ways to get other peoples money
without an equivalent, and went at it with
the energy that men give to the practice of
their profession or to the pursuits OF COM
merce, where would such schemes MS this BET
Nowhere. You hear of n great burglary.
The newspapers which report it dwell upon
the fact that it had been carefully planned
and that the house had been plotted, for a
diagram which the rascals had left in their
flight was found. What's TO hinder any man
from learning every room and every door in
New York cityl There's the builders plans,
the insurance companies plots and the build
ing departments open files. A little watch
ing and a good deal of guessing makes up the
rest of the burglars knowledge. OF course,
his tools are of the finest workmanship
Ratsl The chances are ten to one that thay
consist of u bar of iron, which being carried
by a burglar is called n 'jimmy;' n dark
lantern, n copper hammer, a chisel and a flask
of powder and n handkerchief with holes in il
to see through for a mask"
but there are cases where men have gone
further than make n few hasty preparations;
have hired adjoining stores and tunneled and
burrowed into banks and vaults wit, infinite
patience and labor"
"Bahl How manyl You say ten and l
say one. Whatever you say 1 will allow 10
Per cent Off. But can you recall anylo
We'll, the Covington, KY, bank
THAT'S one. You can't go on. But there
have been probably twenty robberies COM
mitted in that way in the last thirty years
and none OF them amounted to very much in
the way OF returns, outside OF two or three.
You make up your mind to this fact, that the
returns of robberies are vastly exaggerated. "
Philadelphia Times Interview.
A Happy NIIuIonaIra